Today, Tomorrow, Forever
by SarcasmIsMySoulmate
Summary: "Waves of nausea keep coming and going. I hear a little beep and reach for the pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom counter and stare at the little window. In it, two pink lines look back at me. It's positive." The story of how Ray and Stella deal with her pregnancy after their accidential one-night stand, and how they discover their true feelings for each other.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The Result**

This isn't supposed to be happening to me.

I'm supposed to be jamming out on my electric guitar and hanging out with my friends, laughing and living life to the extreme. Traveling the world with Lemonade Mouth is my dream; now I'm caught in a bad place, barely able to breathe. My life is moving so fast and now I feel as if it's moving too fast. The thought of having a baby, at my age especially, is terrifying.

The worst part of it is figuring out how to tell everyone.

I sit on the cold linoleum floor of a hotel room bathroom in Phoenix, my hands covering my eyes as the tears keep flowing. I try telling myself that it's all just a dream, and I would wake up soon, but I know that denial isn't going to make the situation any better. Waves of nausea keep coming and going and I wonder if I'm ever going to stop crying. I hear a little beep, so I reach for the pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom counter and stare at the little window. In it, two pink lines look back at me.

It's positive.

I, Stella Yamada, am pregnant.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

_One week later…_

"I'm surprised you decided to come with me to the game," Mo says to me as we pull into the school stadium's parking lot. "I thought you hated soccer."

"I do, but I needed to get out of the house, and, well, I was just too tired to argue with you," I explain as I unbuckle my seatbelt. Mo turns in her seat to give me an incredulous look.

"Really? Usually you're never too tired to argue with someone," she says, and raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you okay? Ever since we got back from Phoenix, you've been acting really strange."

"Why wouldn't I be okay? Trust me, Mo, I'm perfectly fine. There's nothing you need to worry about," I lie. She stares at me suspiciously for a few more moments, and then she drops her look and the both of us step out of her car. What I see first are the too-bright stadium lights, which instantly give me a migraine. The pain pounds against my skull relentlessly, like a bass drum being played too loud. To try and soothe the pain, I hold a hand up to my forehead and rub my temples with my thumb and forefinger. When that doesn't work, I remember the tiny bottle of Ibuprofen in my back pocket and reach for it.

Now that I'm pregnant, I try to look out for its early signs so that I can take care of it before anyone notices. In the mornings, I make sure to wake up earlier so no one can hear the sounds of my morning sickness. In the afternoons, I make sure to have a bottle of antacids discreetly hidden in my backpack to take care of the heartburn. In the evenings, I make sure to have a small bottle of aspirin to get rid of the sudden migraines.

The bitter red pills slide down my throat as Mo pulls out cash to give to the ticket booth attendant. The attendant takes the money, then hands us two paper tickets printed from a machine inside the booth. Mo takes both of the tickets and hands one of them to me as we pass through the gate.

I don't know what to expect as we walk in, but I'm not surprised by what I see. The scoreboard is painted in the traditional Mesa High blue and white, along with the logo for Turbo Blast on the other side. The stands are also painted blue and white, and about thirty feet high. An asphalt track surrounds the trim, perfect playing field, where the soccer team is warming up. I can see Scott from where I stand, practicing his dribbling skills. But out of all the players, one with spiky blond hair catches my eye. I don't have to look at his face to recognize him.

It's Ray. The only reason I have for coming to the soccer game.

I have a plan to get him alone, away from the crowd. That's the easy part of my plan. Telling him is going to be the hard part. It may not be a good plan, but it's my only option. To keep it a secret would make everything much harder to deal with.

My phone buzzes in my jeans pocket and I pull it out. It's Mo.

_From: Mo B. _

_Where r u? Already found seats; hurry! Game's about 2 start._

I hit the reply button and start typing.

_New Message: To: Mo B._

_Be there in a minute._

I hit send and shove the phone back in my pocket. I start walking to the bleachers and see Mo standing on the top bleacher, waving both of her hands to get my attention. Reluctantly, I wave back and start to make my way upward. I reach the top of the bleachers—not without being out of breath, of course—and sit down on the cold metal bench next to her.

"Where were you?" Mo asks curiously. "As soon as we walked in through the gate, you disappeared on me."

"I was just, um, looking around," I say. She chuckles softly.

"Yeah, the stadium's pretty impressive, isn't it?" she asks.

"I guess so," I reply, already detached from the conversation. She remains silent as the game starts.

The first half of the game is uninteresting, and nobody scores a goal. As halftime comes and goes, I'm just sitting like a lump on a log, leaning back against the mesh fence that separates me from the asphalt three stories below. But as the second half is starting to end, Mo urges me to sit up and look down at the field. What I see is almost like a slow motion scene at the end of a movie.

I watch Ray as he runs down the field, dribbling the ball between his feet. He quickly advances toward the other team's goal, and launches the ball at the net. The goalie is unable to get at the ball, and it goes flying past his hands and hits the net, just as the buzzer is going off.

I want to cheer and scream and jump, but I don't because I am not a sports fan and my head feels like it's going to explode. I cover my ears as everybody is screaming and yelling and carefully start down the bleachers to the track. The soccer team jumps out of their victory huddle and go their separate ways to gather their gear. But just as I start to make my way toward the field, Ray looks up from what I presume is his gear bag and locks his gaze directly on me.

The look in his cerulean blue eyes is nothing short of a mixture of confusion, curiosity and something else I can't quite depict.

I'm tempted to walk away and avoid the soon-to-be-awkward conversation altogether, but I will myself to keep walking. But he reaches me before I can get to him.

"What are you doing here, Yamada?" he asks. His tone is more surprised than angry. "You hate soccer and everything else that has to do with me."

"You don't think I don't know that already, Beech?" I say. There is more annoyance in my voice than I intend to use. "Sorry. I didn't mean to jump at you like that." His eyes widen in shock at my apology.

"Wow. You're apologizing to me? Something is _definitely_ not right here." He places a hand on my shoulder, and to both our surprises, I don't immediately pull away. "You on some kind of meds, Yamada?"

"You wish," I scoff and shrug his hand off my shoulder. "We need to talk."

"Okay. Start talking," he says and crosses his arms across his chest expectantly.

"This talk requires a little more privacy," I say.

"Oh, so it's _that_ kind of talk," he says, and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. I roll my eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself, Beech." Then my tone of voice changes. "I'm serious." The amused look on his perfect face disappears.

"Oh," he murmurs. We walk to the desolate edge of the stadium, where the end is lined with a row of bare willow trees. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?" he asks.

My heart starts to beat faster and the blood is coursing faster through my veins than normal. My stomach starts to flutter and get queasy. Now I'm starting to regret my decision to tell him and want to run away. I go ahead anyhow because I know I have no other choice.

"Do you remember…last Friday?" I start, struggling to keep my voice steady.

"No. Why do you ask?" he asks, starting to sound suspicious. "Is there something I should know about?"

"Well, yeah," I reply. "I'm going to tell you something that might…surprise you."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle it," he says. I take a deep breath and pray to God. _Here goes nothing,_ I think. I open my mouth and speak.

"I'm pregnant. And you're the father."

I brace myself for the humiliation of a lifetime. Instead of laughing at me, he stands there, still as a statue. He looks completely petrified.

It's scaring me.


End file.
